PORT TOWNSEND — A Port Townsend man facing multiple felony charges, including controlled substances homicide, may have his case split into more than one trial.
Adam Michael Kelly, 38, appeared by video in Jefferson County Superior Court on Friday in front of court Commissioner Stephen W. Gillard.
Kelly’s defense attorney, Richard Davies of Jefferson Associated Counsel, prepared arguments for a motion to suppress evidence, which would exclude it from consideration by a jury.
Davies said he will make his arguments for the motion on Aug. 22 and also use the time to argue the charges should be severed into different cases.
Kelly remains at the Jefferson County Jail, where he’s been held since March 28 in lieu of $500,000 bail. Controlled substances homicide is a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
County prosecutors have charged Kelly with providing a lethal dose of heroin that killed Jarrod Bramson, 43, of Port Townsend, one half of the music duo The Solvents.
Additional charges include the possession of steroids, possession of a controlled substance, two counts of possession of counterfeit substances and the use of a building for the purposes of a drug lab. All are Class C felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Kelly’s most recent trial date of Aug. 19 has been stricken in anticipation of the suppression hearing. A new trial date has not been set.
“The problem with the state is the first motion filed [to suppress] is going to require a lot of witnesses,” Chris Ashcraft, the county’s chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, told the court.
“There’s no guarantee the state will be ready for the 22nd.”
Gillard asked that Davies file the motion to suppress by Aug. 9 and give prosecutors a week to respond.
“We can set the schedule, but there’s a possibility of asking for a continuance,” Gillard said.
Bramson was found unconscious in the passenger seat of his car while the engine was running in the parking lot at Jefferson Healthcare hospital on March 27, according to a Port Townsend police report. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Detectives wrote in their probable cause statement that Kelly and an unidentified woman had driven Bramson about five blocks to the hospital and left him in his vehicle after they were unable to revive him with two shots of Narcan, a compound used to counteract opioid overdoses.
Hospital surveillance showed Kelly and the woman walking away toward Kelly’s house in the 1400 block of 12th Street.
Along the way, the woman used Kelly’s cell phone to call the hospital to check if Bramson had checked in. Emergency department workers searched for Bramson and found him in the car near an ambulance bay, according to court documents.
Detectives connected the call to Kelly’s cell phone and arrested him later that night.
Search warrants for Kelly’s property were executed the following day. Multiple agencies were involved, including the State Patrol SWAT team, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Adminitration and the state Department of Ecology. Two civilian support teams from the National Guard also provided support.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
